Mental Rush unveils new women's roster — "We want to win everything"

Despite the women’s scene still being shrouded in uncertainty, a relatively new organization is stepping into the fray, aiming to cement its place at the top. With no official announcements yet regarding flagship competitions such as Game Changers, Equal Esports Cup, or the Nova Series—and especially following Webedia’s withdrawal from Game Changers, per sources—the competitive landscape heading into 2026 remains unclear.

Amid this instability, Mental Rush is choosing to commit. Initially formed from the acquisition of the former Blue Otter / Nexus Reapers roster in late 2025, the organization is back—this time with a roster built entirely in-house—hoping to establish itself despite the absence of some historically dominant names, such as G2 Hel and Solary Académie.

Launched through the vision of German coach Tim “Unkraut” Blume and manager Mia “Mia” Eidenschink, the team now appears poised for success, with a star-studded roster representing the French organization. To lead the charge, the team first enlisted German AD Carry and former SK Avarosa member , who was seen as a cornerstone of the project. Alongside her, the team secured two former G2 Hel members: Swedish coach Adam "Emtest" Emtestam and German toplaner who also recently had a short stint with in the LFL Invitational.

In midlane, Manon "Sha" Legaignoux, former midlaner for , joins the roster, providing a solid pillar for the team. The roster is completed by German support Sarah "Sahrii" Lesch and Lithuanian jungler Agnė "Karina" Ivaškevičiūtė, the only returning member from Mental Rush’s 2025 lineup.

From the start, Miella was a clear cornerstone. With Maya "Caltys" Henckel, a former AD Carry who recently roleswapped to midlane, “there is no one in women’s scene that can actually compete on her level in the AD Carry role,” affirmed the team’s coach. Her work ethic, dedication, and clear in-game talents made convincing her to join “the most important step” for the organization.

Toplane was a close decision. While Lily "GWolfieG" Kraft and Abigail "Meloncola" Horst were considered, German talent Zeniv was ultimately chosen for her ceiling and mechanical potential. “Zeniv is a bit of a no-brainer pick in the women’s scene,” the coach noted, praising her as one of the best-performing tops throughout the previous year.

In midlane, the decision came down to Sha or Rym "rym" Salloum, with Luna "Lilith" Benzerara-Arnoux also tryouting. As Vitality quickly moved to secure rym for themselves, Mental Rush went for Sha, who according to the coach, was already prioritized at that time. “She is genuinely a f***ing good midlaner,” Unkraut said, adding that she is “literally the women’s scene Chovy (Jeong Ji-hoon)” for her ability to carry games and influence outcomes, even if her playstyle is less flashy than others.

For support, the options included Sahrii, Gina "Lumi" Kircher, and Ana “Rena”. With Lumi prioritizing Prime League offers and Rena considered a higher-risk rookie, the team settled on Sahrii for her proven consistency, champion pool, and strong synergy with Miella. “From all the options available, she is by far the most consistent,” the coach stated.

The jungle role proved to be the trickiest to fill. Initial targets Chara "Delicate" Giannopoulou and Iulia "Yushia" Boldor were unavailable, which opened the door for Lithuanian jungler Karina. Though initially approached with skepticism, Karina impressed throughout interviews and tryouts, ultimately turning doubters into believers. “Over the tryout period, my perspective on her changed 180 degrees; I got turned from an ultra-skeptic into the biggest Karina believer in the world,” the coach explained.

Finally, the coaching staff was completed by Swedish coach Emtest, who brings extensive experience and complements Unkraut’s skill set. “What he brings perfectly fixes my issues; he is insanely good at my biggest weaknesses as a coach,” Unkraut concluded. Rather than purely tactical input, Emtest’s greatest strength lies in his ability to work with people—something Unkraut openly admits he can struggle with at times. Together, the two form a complementary partnership at the helm of the roster.

A squad still relatively unknown to the public, Mental Rush has been quietly building a roster that could shake up the women’s scene. To provide readers with an inside perspective on the team’s philosophy and ambitions, Sheep Esports sat down with vice president Paul “PauluX” Guttin and coach Tim “Unkraut” Blume for an exclusive interview, where they shared the philosophies behind the team, the vision that guided the roster’s construction, and what the organization hopes to achieve in its first full season.

Tim "Unkraut" Blume: “Our manager Mia (Mia Eidenschink) and I talked around November/December about how we would really love to compete in the female scene together in 2026. In general, a lot of things went down in different teams that we were not happy with. Our goals were clear: to create an environment that actually cares for its players and to build a coherent competitive roster that could challenge for every title and compete throughout the year at ERL2 level.

We reached out to over 20 different orgs with our pitch, but we had rather minimal positive resonance. When Mental Rush announced that they were looking for staff, I reached out to them and was able to convince them of our vision and ambitions.

Paul “PauluX” Guttin: When we first started shaping the project, we began analyzing the different circuits and divisions. That’s when we realized the massive gap between the women’s and men’s scenes—even though nothing justifies it. We didn’t want to create an organization just for the sake of it. We wanted it to have meaning and to contribute, at our own level, to the development of the esports scene. So we decided to go where the need was greatest.

When we saw that in Game Changers nearly one-third of the teams were playing at a European level without an organization, it simply made no sense to us. There is a tremendous amount of talent in this league, and it deserves far more visibility—even if we’re not necessarily supported by Riot, especially considering their silence regarding the competitions planned for the women’s scene this year.

Unkraut: We want to win everything. Obviously, you cannot guarantee that you win every final, but if we are not the most successful female scene team of the year at the end of 2026, then we didn’t reach our goals—which means that I personally fucked up. If I cannot win with this roster, I didn’t do my job well enough.

In terms of philosophy, there are two important things. The most important aspect is that we actually care for our players—they are not just employees. And that’s not only my stance, not only the one of Mia and Emtest—it’s also what Mental Rush stands for. During the offseason, this org surprised me day after day with how much they actually care for each individual, even during tryouts. So making everyone feel well and included, respecting their personal needs and IRL situation—that actually matters to us, we don’t just say it. We don’t only do it from a pure human decency point of view, we also believe that this is the best way to win.

The second point is that I have an extremely clear idea of how we want to play League. I did not intend to work in a team this year where I could not do it how I wanted to do it, gameplay-wise. So we do not only have a philosophy out of the game, there will also be a clear philosophy in-game. I don’t want to leak too much, but my biggest inspiration for this was never another League team. It has always been Thomas Tuchel, the principles he has put into all his teams since his later Dortmund days.

This idea of playing League is not reinventing the wheel or anything—nothing we will do has never been seen before. But I hope that in the end, people can see how much thought for detail was put into it and how hard all of us worked to implement all those details.

PauluX: We are still at the very beginning of the project, and the idea is to lay the foundations of an organization that we intend to be exclusively female. We know it will be difficult and take time, but we cannot imagine building an organization without vision or purpose. The goal is clearly to establish ourselves in a sustainable way. This year, we are focusing on League of Legends, and if things go well, we would indeed like to expand into other titles.

At the moment, we are primarily funded by Grinto, our agency, but we have also been joined by other sponsors. We are actively seeking additional partners in order to continue investing in the league and in the development of our players. We want to provide them with the best possible conditions and resources so they can improve, grow, and thrive.

However, our objectives for the year are not limited to team performance. We also aim to organize events to spotlight the scene and to develop a podcast series highlighting all the women who are helping esports shine in France, across Europe, and around the world.

Unkraut: From Riot’s side, it has been nothing but a big disaster. We feel really left in the dark—not only us, but everyone in the female scene I ever talked to.

Besides that, it’s a bit unclear how good the competition will be with G2H gone. Let’s see if Caltys pulls up for an Eterna-type miracle run.

Unkraut: Vitality looks like a project that knows what they are doing. I have zero clue how good Honda actually is—maybe she will just smurf on everybody’s head. We should for sure be the better team though, both individually and macro-wise. Nothing but respect for what they are doing there, but if we cannot beat them, I fucked up hard.

For the other rosters, what I heard about SK didn’t scare me at all, and just from the player pool left, it is hard to build strong and cohesive rosters. There are still tons of wild card players that are top tier, like Shiina, Sea and Sashy, Meloncola and Wiosna. But the only players I feel pose a genuine threat to us are Caltys and Colomblbl.

Caltys’ mid grind is hella impressive—she can just come back, play female scene now and be instantly top 3 mid, plus she knows how to win in this circuit. And Colomblbl is just the best female scene player right now, not only in her role but in general. At least for now—I got five players who can all challenge for that throne in 2026.

Unkraut: We cannot say for sure right now, but with three German players it would make a lot of sense to compete in the Prime League, wouldn’t it? We are also open to playing all sorts of tournaments, so just feel free to hit us up if you people out there have something exciting to compete in. We really want to prove ourselves.

Unkraut: Amazing. Never in my life did I have so much fun working with a team. We are doing really well with implementing the ideas we have on how we want to play, mainly getting down the core principles right now. On top of that, the positional coaching for all roles that we offer—we got some really good external people helping us out—is already showing results, especially the work Karina and I are putting in together. It’s such a joy to work with her; you can see her getting better and better every day. But I also don’t want to overhype. We are still in the honeymoon phase; the hardship will come, and we need to be ready for that. So far, we’ve only scrimmed non-women teams. We usually play against opponents that are around the level of Prime League’s 3rd Division, which we are roughly the same level as—if not a little better.”